Scaling Innovation at Etsy

How do we think about innovation? And then, how do we scale it? Matt Holford is a Senior Director of Engineering at Etsy and a technology leader who's had quite a storied career working as a musician and in various creative digital service agencies.

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As such, he has a unique perspective on how to frame scaling innovation.

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How do we give staff the space for idea generation? And then, how do we validate and implement new ideas at a company level? For Matt, opening the door for product innovation means being able to have pockets of creative conversation in high-pressure situations.

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It's about having the right expectation of bandwidth to take on new ideas – something that is completely distinct from how good the new idea may be.

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Setting goals at the right altitude is also important in today's tough economy. You can set big-level innovation goals that then cascade down to each individual team, but those teams may then feel robbed of the permission to innovate themselves.

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Looking at innovation through the prisms of the individual, the team, and the organization is one of the creative ways that Matt is coming up with new idea-generation methods. Please join us in this fascinating conversation about the cadence and scalability of innovation.

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"The context matters so much in terms of how willing people are to think about technology and engineering as a creative practice." - Matt Holford

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• Appreciating how Matt's career has informed his understanding of product development
• How do you take on board engineer ideas while satisfying stakeholder interest?
• Understanding the practice of generating ideas both inside and outside the business
• How comfortable is Matt with 'throwaway ideas’?
• How do we scale innovation in today's tough economy?
• Seeing the time required for idea generation as a sliding scale
• What is the right cadence for idea generation?